German scientists have just hit the ignition on what they’re calling the “world’s largest artificial sun,” in a series of experiments to develop better solar production technology.

Assembled earlier this year, ‘Synlight’ is an experimental setup designed to replicate the amount of solar energy the Earth is blasted with daily, in an effort to improve photovoltaic cells and other renewable sources of energy.

Being conducted in Jülich, the setup involves 149 short-arc lamps (film projector spotlights), each with roughly 4,000 times the wattage of average light bulbs. Scientists from the German Aerospace Center (DLR), intend to use Synlight to produce light about 10,000 times more powerful than natural sunlight hitting a single point on Earth.

The idea is that current solar panels are not capable of functioning at maximum efficiency. Synlight points all of its lamps at one spot with temperatures reaching up to 3,500 degrees Celsius, roughly three times…